Layers is a 3-day
conference during WWDC to talk about design, technology, and
eat snacks.

Seriously, look at these people.

Samihah Azim

Lyft

Samihah is a Product Designer at Lyft where she sits at the
intersection of business goals and crafting experiences
impacting local communities. Prior to Lyft, she was designing
for local commerce at Postmates and crafting high quality
patient-facing healthcare experiences at One Medical.
Outside of design, she mentors for the State Department's
TechWomen program, enjoys powerlifting (seriously!), Arabic
calligraphy, and cooking. She wholeheartedly believes in
constantly learning, going after your goals, and a good bowl
of ramen. She tweets as @samihah.

Josh Brewer

Abstract

Josh is a vocal advocate for Design Leadership, writing and
speaking about the challenges of building Design-led companies
and products. In his current role as CEO of Abstract, as an
Advisor to several start-ups, and an Advisor & Mentor to the
Designer Fund, and previously as Principal Designer at Twitter,
Josh continues to influence the centrality of Design in early
and late-stage companies.

Busra Demirci

Modernizing Medicine

Busra Demirci is an award-winning UX leader who solves systemic complexity
to increase the quality of patient care and productivity of healthcare
professionals. As an active facilitator for the HIMSS EHRA, she sets
national patient safety and clinician experience standards for the
health-IT community. Passionate about shaping software, she helps people
focus on what they do best: be human.

Dylan Field

Figma

Dylan Field is the CEO of Figma.com, the only cloud-based
collaborative design tool. He was inspired to work on design
technology after struggling with design software as an intern
at Flipboard in 2012. He once lost an entire presentation
right before a meeting with Flipboard’s CEO because his
(local) design application crashed. He dropped out of Brown
University soon after that experience, and started Figma with
his co-founder Evan Wallace. Thanks to advancements in
browser technology, they were able to build the first “Google
Docs of design” -- a performant, web-based multiplayer design
application. Dylan champions open, accessible design and
believes design technology must evolve for a cloud-based,
collaborative world. He tweets @zoink.

Angela Guzman

Google

Angela is a UX design lead at Google focusing on designing
assistive experiences available on mobile and smart home
devices. At Airbnb, she led the first major hosting redesign
of their mobile app and spent several years at Apple working
on the iPhone team, where she focused on apps like Messages,
Mail, FaceTime, and Photo Booth. She is also responsible for
co-designing Apple's original emoji set back in 2008.
Throughout her time in Silicon Valley, Angela has been awarded
over two dozen design patents. She has a BFA in Industrial
Design and MFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School
of Design.

Jessica Hische

Jessica Hische

Jessica Hische is a lettering artist and author. Her clients include Wes
Anderson, Starbucks, Tiffany & Co., the New York Times, and the United
States Postal Service. She’s been named a Forbes 30 under 30, an ADC
Young Gun, and a Print Magazine New Visual Artist, and her work has been
featured again and again in design and illustration publications across
the globe.

Akil King

Akil King

Tom K Morris

Tom K Morris

Tom K Morris is a former creative development executive at Walt
Disney Imagineering who guided groundbreaking projects for
over 30 years. Highlight projects include the conceptualization
of DisneyQuest and the Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster attraction at
Walt Disney World, the design of Sleeping Beauty Castle at
Disneyland Paris and creative direction for Cars Land at Disneyland, CA.

Katie Mullen

BlackPaint Studios

Katie Mullen is a brand strategist, artist and writer. She’s also one
half of BlackPaint Studios, a Milwaukee-based independent art and
design studio whose biggest clients are Planned Parenthood state
affiliates across the country. Also a longtime art activist and
general troublemaker, Katie leads BlackPaint’s covert mission to
challenge the creative industry’s ancient power structure by working
to increase the number of women and people of color in leadership
roles.

Ryan McLeod

Blackbox

Ryan McLeod is a puzzle maker and self-taught designer with a
masters in Computer Science. He designs and develops the infamous
and infuriating game Blackbox, which won an Apple Design Award
in 2017. In addition to being a game, Blackbox has also become
a testbed for interaction design and accessibility innovation.
Off the computer, he cooks a lot and once accidentally bartended
the Nobel Prize after-party.

Majd Taby

Darkroom

Majd Taby is the co-founder of Darkroom, a photo editing app
focused on ease of use and creative freedom. He is also the
author of Displaced, a comprehensive record of the Syrian
Refugee Crisis. Prior, he worked at Lyft, Instagram, Facebook,
and Apple shipping iOS and Web apps with a focus on product
experience and usability.

Pieter Omvlee

Sketch

Pieter Omvlee is the founder and creator of Sketch, the definitive
tool for digital designers. From its humble beginnings back in 2010,
the team behind Sketch now boasts over 30 members, in seven
different countries. Pieter lives in the Hague, NL and, when he’s
not working on Sketch, he plays reasonably good piano and bakes
excellent pizza.

Jonathan Pimento

Adobe

Jonathan is a designer turned product manager at Adobe. An
engineer by degree, Jonathan shares an unbiased passion for
design and technology. He started his journey at Adobe working
on web authoring tools like Dreamweaver, Inspect and Brackets.
He currently works on the Adobe XD team, leading the effort
around design and prototyping.

Jordan Pintar

BlackPaint Studios

Jordan Pintar is the other half of BlackPaint Studios. A few short
ad agency stints into her career, Jordan knew she couldn’t abide by
the industry’s old school office cultures and lack of women in
creative leadership. So she quit and co-founded BlackPaint, whose
mission from day one was to help change this shit. As BlackPaint’s
art director and designer, Jordan’s hallmark is vibrant work
rooted in human connection and cultural commentary from a
feminist perspective.

Heather Phillips

Abstract

Heather Phillips is Director of Design at Abstract, a design
workflow platform for modern design teams. She is passionate
about building design communities, which she expresses through
her work at Designer Fund, leading programs like Women in
Design, teaching in the Design MFA program at CCA, and as
author of the Level Up framework. Heather has worked at several
fast-growing startups, including Yammer and RelateIQ, and has
advised more than 30 tech companies on how to build effective
design teams.

Litha Soyizwapi

GauRider

Litha Soyizwapi is a graphic designer and a self-taught iOS developer
based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a creator of the GauRider
app, an iOS app for Gautrain, a rapid rail service that connects
Johannesburg, Pretoria & OR Tambo International Airport in South
Africa. Litha was also a speaker at TEDxSoweto 2014, TEDxJohannesburg
2015 and Release Notes 2016.

Daren Ulmer

Mousetrappe

Daren Ulmer is a Media Designer and Creative Director who
owns Mousetrappe, a creative studio and media producer that
creates complex and immersive experiences for the world's
leading theme parks, museums, and exhibits. Specialists in
projection mapping, immersive theater and immerging
mixed-reality environments, Mousetrappe and Daren do concept,
design, production, and installation at locations around the
world. Daren previously worked in creative and production for
Disney theme parks.

Some of our past presenters include wonderful people such as
May-Li Khoe, Susan Kare, John Hodgman, Linda Dong, Jesse Genet, Neven Mrgan, James
Buckhouse, and Ashley Nelson-Hornstein.

The Details

Layers is a 3-day conference in San Jose about design, technology,
and all the tasks that lie between. Join us to hear industry
champions, push yourself beyond conventional thinking, and eat
great snacks.

At Layers, you'll learn about:

Building successful products

Getting more value from your work

New design tools and features

Approachable methods for staying motivated

Facing project challenges

Jun.04-.06

Across the street from the McEnery Convention Center and right
in the middle of the WWDC festivities and community events.

We've reserved a block of hotel rooms for $239/night at the Larkspur Landing Campbell. Please call (408) 364-1514 to book a room, letting them know you're with the Layers Conference. For questions, contact staying@layers.is.

Montgomery Theater
271 S Market St.
San Jose, CA 95113
United States

times, dates, people, places

Monday June 4

Montogomery Theater, 271 S. Market St

5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Registration Party! Come on over and pick up your badge, grab
a drink and a snack, and meet your fellow Layers attendees.

Tuesday June 5

Montgomery Theater, 271 S. Market St

9:00 am

Coffee and pastries from Social Policy

10:00 am

Layers welcome and introduction

10:15 am

Daren Ulmer

10:45 am

Akil King

11:15 am

Snack Session - Vietnoms

11:45 am

Pieter Omvlee

12:30 pm

Lunch

2:00 pm

Samihah Azim

2:30 pm

Majd Taby

3:00 pm

Snack Session - Cat Cat's Nom Noms

3:30 pm

Angela Guzman

4:00 pm

Tom Morris

Wednesday June 6

Montgomery Theater, 271 S. Market St

9:00 am

Coffee from Social Policy
Steamed breakfast buns from SpiceKit

10:00 am

Busra Demirci

10:30 am

Litha Soyizwapi

11:00 am

Snack Session - Taco Mania

11:30 am

Heather Phillips and Josh Brewer

12:00 pm

Ryan McLeod

12:30 pm

Lunch

2:00 pm

BlackPaint

2:30 pm

Jonathan Pimento

3:00 pm

Snack Session - Rocko's Ice Cream Tacos

4:00 pm

Dylan Field

4:30 pm

Jessica Hische

Register

Code of Conduct • Important

Hi, this is Jessie Char and Elaine Pow and we're the organizers of
this conference. You may be asking, "Jessie and Elaine, what are you
doing in the code of conduct?" and that's a great question. We're
here to explain our behavior policies at Layers.

🎤👸👸Ahem:

Layers is committed to providing a harassment-free event for
everyone. Harassment doesn't only take place as a result of
intention; it can also happen when we don't stop to think about how
our choices may make others uncomfortable. Let's go over some common
forms of harassment:

If any Layers attendee engages in one or more of the inappropriate
behaviors listed above, we reserve the right to take any action we
deem necessary. This includes, but is not limited to: issuing a
warning, complete removal from the conference without refund, and
contacting the appropriate authorities.

In the unfortunate case that anyone is made to feel uncomfortable at
our event, notify us or one of our volunteers directly (we'll be
highly visible at the conference). Whether it's a full-fledged
complaint, or a "hey, that person could have handled this better"
comment, we are dedicated to providing a safe space for everyone to
discuss their experience. If you are uncomfortable approaching us in
person, email us at info@layers.is
or submit an anonymous form.

You may be thinking "This isn't as much code of conduct writing as
I'm used to seeing. How are these two princess emoji really going to
handle a broken conduct situation?" As working women who've
experienced all sorts of behaviors directed toward us in
professional situations and environments, harassment will not be
taken lightly.

Thanks to Geek Feminism for the list of what qualifies as harassment. We welcome feedback on our code of conduct; if you believe we have missed an important qualifier of harassment, please let us know at info@layers.is.

Brought to you by Opening Night

Opening Night was founded in 2015 by Jessie Char and Elaine Pow.
Together they produce thoughtful events that draw from their combined
backgrounds in design, technology, and retail.

A special thanks to

Sketch

Sketch is an award-winning graphics editor for macOS and the premier tool for designing user interfaces and software. Download a free trial at sketchapp.com

Figma

As the only cloud-based design tool, Figma is the easiest way for teams to work in concert on design from start to finish. Sign up for free at figma.com

Adobe

Adobe XD is built for today’s UX/UI designers, with intuitive tools that eliminate speed bumps and make everyday tasks feel effortless.